Channeling the voices and energy of a generation
A society that respects and listens to young women is a better society for all of us.
We met Rebecca Gill, the director of policy, campaigns and communications (England and Wales) for the Young Women’s Trust, on a grey day in October 2013. She contacted us after reading our blog post about Twitter’s #mentalhealthpatient outcry. Something about our approach had resonated with her.
Young Women’s Trust is an old organisation with a fresh outlook. Founded in 1855 as YWCA (that’s the Young Women’s Christian Association, England & Wales), it has worked to support girls and women for more than a century and a half.
Over a cup of coffee, Rebecca explained why she and her team were still having to fight so hard to improve the lives of our young women. We came away determined to help her change that.
We evolved the initial logo work, evoking the dynamic energy of the organisation’s refreshed direction and showing that the Young Women’s Trust brand was here to disrupt the status quo.
In 2010, the organisation changed its name to Platform 51 to reduce confusion with YMCA England and take on a more contemporary feel. Three years on, it was clear that the new brand was lost on most people. The organisation was rethinking its focus and needed an identity that alluded to its proud heritage while remaining relevant to young women today.
The rebrand was already underway. A new name, Young Women’s Trust, had been chosen, and a logo, colour palette and a limited set of brand guidelines had been produced by another agency as a pro-bono project.
Rebecca was now looking for a creative agency to develop the work and breathe life into the few brand elements that had been created. We were confident we could do just that.
It’s not always easy to build on someone else’s idea. We prefer to start from scratch, digging into the whats and whys of the organisation’s purpose to inform the thinking, and inviting participation from people for whom the identity will matter the most. But there were budget and time limitations, so an alternative route wasn’t an option.
The launch event date was already set and we had little more than a month to complete the project. We knew we were taking on a challenge. And we were all set to rise to it.
Alongside developing a vibrant visual and verbal brand we were asked to produce an impact report to highlight what life is really like for young women today.
A brand to disrupt the status quo
We evolved the initial logo work, replacing the pop-art style spots in the W device with horizontal lines to accentuate its three dimensional form and evoke the dynamic energy of the organisation’s refreshed direction. We also mis-registered the colour block within, giving the device an edgy personality and an imperfect, hand-rendered feel.
And by skewing the angle of the wordmark, we showed that the Young Women’s Trust brand was here to disrupt the status quo.
We decided on a typeface that felt bold, confident and appealing to a young audience. We gave the word ‘trust’ prominence by highlighting it in the primary colour and underlining it by hand. This added to the personal feel of the logo, and reinforced the idea that much of the work Young Women’s Trust do for young women is based on mutual trust.
Challenging stereotypes
With lots of input from the Young Women’s Trust team, we chose a new colour palette. We took care to avoid the shades of pink that stereotypically represent the female gender, ruling out colours that were already being used by similar organisations.
Young Women’s Trust understand young women. They know that it’s not all about benefits, babies and bad behaviour.
Instead we settled on a vibrant shade of orange alongside black as the primary palette, backed up by secondary colours of cerise and green.
Telling it how it is
The team understood young women. They knew that it’s not all about benefits, babies and bad behaviour. They knew the real story; they just needed to find the right way to tell it.
So, we developed a straight-talking tone of voice expressing their determination to change the future for young women.
Alongside developing a vibrant visual and verbal brand, we were asked to produce an impact report to highlight what life is really like for young women today.
We based the impact report on the style of a women’s magazine, using elements of the visual brand we had developed to highlight the shocking statistics uncovered in extensive research and polls conducted over two years.
The organisation’s mission to get young women the respect and support they deserve is now well underway.
And we told the story of young women as it is, using a bold yet conversational tone to engage the reader in the real struggles young women face every day.
We made the headlines of each report section imitate the style of the Young Women’s Trust logo typography, boldly framing statements to challenge media perceptions.
We used case studies throughout to show what it’s really like to be young, female and stereotyped.
Guidelines to build the brand
At the end of the project, we left Young Women’s Trust with a comprehensive set of brand guidelines so that the team could continue to build their reputation as a voice for young women. And we pledged to proudly support them wherever we could.
The organisation’s mission to get young women the respect and support they deserve is now well underway. And we’re behind them — all the way, because a society that respects young women is a better society for all of us.
